Heel for boots and shoes



(No Model G. M. STEVENS & H. J. GHISHOLM. Heel for Boots and Shoes.

N... 237,626. Patented Feb. 8. I881.

FIGA. FIG"? I mmqssns= Wvfiwma.

GRENVILLE M. STEVENS,

ATENT OFFICE.

OF DEERING, AND HUGH J. OHISHOLM, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

HEEL FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,626, dated February8, 1881.

Application filed September 14, 1880. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GRENVILLE M. STE- VENS, of Deering, and HUGH J.OHIsHOLM, of Portland, both in the county of Cumberland and State ofMaine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Heels forBoots and Shoes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, and to letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to heels for boots and shoes of that class whichare composed of a single piece formed by compression or solidificationout of soft material.

Heretofore heels for boots and shoes have been made of various plasticmaterials, such as india-rubber solidified by heat, or by heat andpressure, the solidity of the mass resulting wholly or in part from somemolecular change. Heels made of india-rubber and analogous plasticmaterials are well known; and it has been proposed to form articles outof leather pulp, either alone or mixed with some other material, by heatand pressure, at such a degree as to consolidate the mass by renderingthe particles of leather liquescent, thus changing the molecularstructure of the mass. Such a process and the article resultingtherefrom is described in the patent of Hyatt and Stevens, of June8,1880, No. 228,463. It has also been suggested, and to someextentvpracticed, to make the heels of boots and shoes out of fibrousmaterial by rolling or compressing such fibrous material into sheets andforming the heels of lifts made of such sheets in the same manner inwhich heels have been commonly made of ordinary lifts of leather. When aconcrete substance is used, as suggested in the patent of Morgan, May11, 1869, it must be simply formed in molds without compression, or withonly slight compression, and must depend for its solidification whollyupon the quality of the material itself, or from heat or some chemicalchange in the material. Materials thus capable of being molded intoshape so are objectionable, either by reason of their expense or weight,or unfitness to endure the amount of wear required of such articles, orfor other reasons well known to those skilled in the art. A fibrouspulp, such as may be formed from scraps of leather or other material oflike nature,is most suitable for articles of this class if it can beproperly condensed and solidified.- The mode of making heels out of thismaterial by forming the pulp into sheets and then cutting it into liftsis objectionable by reason of the expense attendin git. After muchexperiment we have succeeded in producing a heel in one piece out ofpulp, compressed from a liquid or semi-liquid state into a heel of solidhomogeneous material, uniting in such heel the lightness, durability,and other good qualities of a heel made from ordinary lifts of leather,together with the cheapness of a heel formed out of plastic material.

Our invention therefore consists, as distin- 7o guished from the otherarticles hereinbefore referred to, of a heel formed in one mass of asimple fibrous material united by pressure and condensation alone,without change of the fibrous character of the material, having no 5vitreous or like quality, and capable of being penetrated by awls orpunches without fracture. This material is produced preferably ofleather reduced while moist to a fibrous condition, although otherfibrous materials may also be used in the same manner, either wholly orin part.

In carrying out our invention we use the process and apparatus shown inour Letters Patent N 0. 234,694, of November 23, 1880. No modificationis required of the apparatus shown in that patent, except that it isnecessary to make thedies to correspond with the shape of the heel. Intothe mold of such an apparatus Y we pour the liquid or semi-liquid pulp,and by gradual compression expel the water and reduce the pulp to asolid mass. The fibers of this mass interlock, and the heel formed ofthis substance becomes solid, of substantially uniform density, andretains its shape without 5 warping.

Nails may be introduced into these heels in any of the known ways.

In order to form the heel of one solid homogeneous piece without seam orcrack, it is nec- 10o essary that enough of the material should bepoured into the mold at one time to form the entire heel.

The heels may be compressed by the apparatus referred to at oneoperation into a sufliciently solid condition; but we prefer to use asecond and more highly-polished die, made slightly smaller in order togive a polished surface to the heel. By this second pressure the heel isfinished, and is in condition to be placed upon the boot or shoe.

XVe have represented in the drawings hereunto attached a heel such asmay be made out of the material and by the process above described, inwhich the nails are represented as inserted in the process of making theheel; but this we do not claim.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of our improved blank with nailsprojecting. on which to attach a lift, if desired; Fig. 2, a verticalsection from front to back. Fig. 3 is of the particles or nature of thematerial.

Having thus described our invention, what We claim is- A heel for bootsand shoes formed wholly of a homogeneous mass of fibrous compressedpulp, as set forth.

In testimonythat we claim'the foregoing as our own we affix oursignatures in presence of two witnesses.

GRENVILLE M.. STEVENS. HUGH J. OHISHOLM. \Vitnesses:

JOHN P. KERRIGAN, HERBERT M. SYLvEs'rER.

